Call for Applications for SPBf Conference Fellowships

Guidelines and Conditions

1. Description of the Fellowships

In this call, the Portuguese Biophysical Society (SPBf) will award 1-2 Conference fellowships (CFs), of 300€ each, per semester for researchers to attend scientific conferences in the area of Biophysics.

2. Terms and Conditions

The SPBf CFs should be used to cover the advanced or early registration to the event, and may also contribute to cover travel and/or accommodation expenses.
Applicants must be both early-career scientists (pre-doctoral students or post-doctoral fellows within 3 years of having obtained their Ph. D. degree) and members of SPBf in good standing at the date of the application deadline.
Each applicant must be first author of an abstract focusing on a Biophysics theme, submitted to the Congress.
The applicants awarded with the SPBf CFs will be publicly advertised on the SPBf website, newsgroup and social media accounts. For this purpose, each successful applicant must read and accept the Terms and Conditions Form provided after acceptance.

3. Application

Candidates are required to submit their application via email to portuguese.biophysical.society@gmail.com. To ensure enough time for evaluation, applications should be submitted at least 60 days prior to abstract submission deadline of the conference. The following documents should be prepared and sent in pdf format by email with the subject line “SPBf Conference fellowships – application [your name]”:

Proof of SPBf membership in good standing (may be requested from secretariado@spb.pt).
Abstract to be submitted to the conference (the applicant is responsible for preparing the abstract according to the guidelines of the selected conference).
A short CV in the format of bio sketch (max 2 pages).
A motivation letter expressing the interest to attend the selected conference and explaining how participation in the selected conference will benefit his/her career.

4. Selection Criteria for Conference Fellowships

The SPBf Conference Fellowships will be granted by a scientific evaluation panel on a competitive basis according to the alignment of the conference/event topics with SPBf’s scientific aims and the quality of the work to be presented. The following considerations will be evaluated:

Merit – of the applicant’s research work to be presented in the conference/event, including its innovative contribution to the advancement of Biophysics.
Relevance – The extent to which the proposed conference/event provides a significant and relevant contribution to the dissemination of Portuguese Biophysics contributions. This should be addressed in the motivation letter.
Scientific track record of the applicant – This should be detailed in the Applicant’s CV.
Potential impact – How the conference and the dissemination of the applicant’s work will contribute to the progress of its scientific career – this should be stated in the motivation letter.
SPBf will notify the awarded applicants 15 days before the deadline of abstract submission for each conference. The selected applicant will be required to sign an acceptance form agreeing to the terms and conditions of the CFs and communicate the bank data (IBAN and account holder) for the transfer of the Fellowship.
In case the selected applicant withdraws or does not confirm the acceptance of the CF within 5 working days of the communication of the results, the CF shall be awarded to the applicant that ranked immediately after the selected applicants, or saved for the next call.

5. Notifications of Successful Applications

Important Note: if all available fellowships are awarded before the end of the 1st call, this call will close. A 2nd call will open in the following semester.

6. After the Conference

Up to one month after the conference has taken place, selected applicants are required to send a copy of the Abstract Book, the poster and/or presentation, and the Conference Participation Certificate to portuguese.biophysical.society@gmail.com.
Awardees who failed to attend the meeting or to present their work must refund SPBf for the received Fellowship within one month after the conference has taken place.

7. Funding Acknowledgement

The applicants awarded with the CFs are required to indicate the sponsorship of SPBf in all adverts and announcements of the activity, as in the Abstract Book and the dissemination material (eg. include the SPBf logo in the presentation or poster). The following description must be included at the end of the abstract and/or in the poster: “Sponsored by the Portuguese Biophysical Society.”